It’s been about 3 months since the Paris Olympics but Noah Lyles’ agonizingly close miss from being a double Olympic gold medalist still stings his fans like a bee. You can only imagine how heavily it must be weighing on his heart, especially when people kept rubbing it in. Some suggested his Covid ‘card’ was an escape move, while others blamed him for neglecting the risk that he could have been a superspreader.

Through all this, one burning question kept springing up: why did he keep his diagnosis under wraps and still show up at Stade de France like nothing was wrong? Was he just oblivious to the risks associated? Or did he actually want to use it as a cover move in case he lost? Well, the long-awaited answer has finally arrived, wrapped up in the depths of Netflix’s Sprint 2. In it, Noah Lyles admits that he hid the reality behind a cloak. But here’s why.

Noah Lyles’ Covid secret reason revealed

In Episode 4 of the Netflix docu-series Sprint, a piece of the footage from a day before the men’s 200m finals shows Noah Lyles and Junelle Bromfield sitting on the track sidelines with their masks on. By then, both of them knew about Lyles’ Covid-19 diagnosis but had decided to keep it hidden from the media. Well, Noah voices the reason for this in his video byte, saying, “I can’t tell anybody. I don’t wanna give my competition the idea that, you know, they could beat me now because I am sick.”

Noah didn’t want his Covid contraction to be seen as a weakness or give his rivals the impression that he wasn’t 100% that day. He knew that revealing his condition could give his competitors a possible edge, both physically and mentally, and he wasn’t about to hand them that kind of leverage. Thus, he added, “I want to go in with everybody believing that this is Noah.. And this is the Noah that you faced every other year.”

But that’s not all. Within his mind, the 100m Olympic champion had his own reasons. Having battled multiple illnesses since childhood, including COVID-19 a few years ago, he felt that his body could defeat that illness. Therefore, Noah Lyles added, “I am always under the belief that God does things for a purpose and a reason. I have been sick before. I’ve fought through sickness. I’d be very upset with myself if I didn’t at least take the first chance of saying, “Maybe I can run through this.”

The stakes were higher than ever on the Olympic stage and Noah Lyles did not want to come this far only to come this far. He knew the regret of giving up would have been heavier than ever. Thus, he decided to leap. And as he previously stated, he was rather satisfied with his call. “I’ve never been more proud of myself for being able to come out here and (get) a bronze medal,” he revealed in August when he updated NBC on his condition post the 200m final. But how did he conceal his diagnosis and whom did he first confess it to?

Noah Lyles’ decision was sturdy from the start

As seen in the Sprint, Noah Lyles first opened up about his diagnosis to his girlfriend (now fiancee), Junelle Bromfield. The BTS clips show him messaging her, “I just woke up. I have Covid.” She replied, saying, “You gonna tell ppl that” to which he replied, “I will make sure not to tell the media or anything.” He was firm in his mind that he did not want to disclose the details and the reason for the same is stated above.

Thus, he entered the zone with great vigor on D-day, although his wearing a mask in the mixed zone had triggered speculations. But concerns came in after the 200-meter run, where he not only clocked in third but lay flat-backed on the track, struggling to breathe after the race. He had to be carried off in a wheelchair and soon, the news burst out that he had been competing with Covid.

While Noah Lyles felt that he had been through worse in life and this situation had nothing in it for him to panic, his collapsing condition after the race indicated otherwise. He later revealed that he had only been performing with his 90-95 percent and it was after this race that he bowed out of the relay event. But looking at the reason, do you think his action of concealing the truth was justified? You be the judge and let us know in the comments below!